Reducing the amount of energy consumption in appliances such as an oven, is a significant problem, in part because a large amount of energy is needed to heat the oven, and in part because a large amount of energy is lost to the surrounding environment. Typically, only a small portion of an oven is used for cooking. However, cooking with a conventional oven requires that the entire volume be heated. There is no particular advantage to heating the entire volume of the oven. Heating the entire volume of the oven results in longer cooking times, which increases energy consumption. The longer cooking times and increased energy consumption associated with the conventional oven are further exacerbated by heat losses from radiative and convective heat through the chamber walls of the oven to the surrounding environment. Heat losses to the surrounding environment are approximately proportional to the hot interior surface area of the oven. Heat losses are rather large with conventional ovens because there is a generally large hot interior surface. In particular, the heat losses in a conventional oven may range anywhere from 50 percent to 90 percent. Accordingly, there is a need for an oven that can better direct radiative and convective heat towards the cooking load and minimize heat losses to the environment, in order to reduce energy consumption and heating time.